Theft sets back Girl Scout troop’s fundraising efforts

MARYSVILLE — It was more than a burglary of a downtown Marysville business.

It also chiseled away at youthful innocence.

Whoever broke into the State Avenue office building last weekend wasn’t content just stealing computers from the company. They also plundered donations made to a Girl Scout troop.

Members of Troop 42047 for months were gathering donations in anticipation of a June garage sale. The proceeds were to help pay for a trip to Europe in 2014. The girls, ages 13 to 15, had been allowed to store their wares at the business, troop co-leader Lisa Samaniego said.

The cost of the trip is more than many of the girls’ families can afford, so the garage sale donations are extremely important, Samaniego said.

“This was their biggest fundraiser,” she said “It’s a big setback.”

The burglary was discovered Monday morning and quickly reported to the Marysville Police Department.

On top of that, the troop will need to find a safe place to store the rest of their garage sale goods, and whatever else they are able to collect between now and June. That means renting a secure storage unit at a cost of $70 a month.

“I was really disappointed,” said Girl Scout Shannon Davidson, 14, a Marysville Getchell High School freshman. “We worked so hard to get the donations and now we’ll all have to work harder.”

Also stolen were boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

“They even left open a half roll of Thin Mints,” Davidson said.

The Thin Mints were found just outside the business, Marysville police Cmdr. Robb Lamoureux said.

Over the years, the girls of Troop 42047 have given their time to food drives, cleaned up streams and worked with the elderly living in senior housing.

Davidson and fellow Girl Scout Kaitlyn Samaniego, 13, predicted they will bounce back from the theft.

“I think we can recover,” Samaniego said. “I feel like it’s going to be a lot harder now.”

The girls are determined to make the best of a bad situation.

“This brings us a lot closer,” Davidson said. “We all have shared this experience. We all know we can come together in the end. It’s just a bump in the road.”

Samaniego agreed the experience will bring the troop closer.

“I would say they are not my best friends,” she said. “They are my sisters.”